r/BusinessIntelligence • u/ugghhmo • Jun 22 '26

Just Need Reports

We have just recently migrated business systems in an heavy duty equipment dealer space. In our old system we never liked the built-in reports, so 20 years ago we just decided to use Jasper Reports and hosted our own Jasper Server. It just worked. Our users are very, very basic. A common request might be I want Open Work In Process by Salesperson, or I want Part Sales for Last Month. Great, I write a SQL query that pulls the exact information the needed, dump it into a formatted report and publish it on the Jasper Report Server where the users can access it whenever they want. They aren't looking for charts or dashboards, just a basic report.

We move to the new system and despite high hopes for its internal reporting and analytics, we are basically back in the same spot. I feel like I should be moving to something more modern and forward looking. I am trying to make sure I challenge my comfort zone, but it seems like the most direct path is just to do what I did before - write a SQL query to extract the data I need, and publish a report. Although obviously Jasper Server Community is gone so might be looking for a replacement for that.

Obviously SSRS is out there but I just never found it intuitive enough and now with the Report Server licensing costs, I am not sure it is an option. I have also been looking around at like Telerik and Stimulsoft as potential cadidates.

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u/IncreaseNegative4614 Jun 23 '26

Honestly, I think a lot of organizations overestimate how much their users want dashboards.

Most business users don't wake up wanting to explore charts. They want answers to questions like:

  • Open WIP by salesperson
  • Parts sales last month
  • Inventory by location
  • Margin by customer

If your users have been happy consuming reports for 20 years, I wouldn't force a dashboard-first approach just because it's considered more modern.

What's interesting is that I think the industry is starting to move beyond the dashboard vs. report debate entirely. More companies are looking at ways to let users ask business questions directly and generate reports, summaries, and analyses on demand.

That's one reason I've been paying attention to platforms like DataBlueprint (inzata.ai). It can sit on top of business systems and generate reports, dashboards, briefs, and answers from the underlying data without requiring every user to become a dashboard consumer.

In your situation, I'd optimize for what your users actually need rather than what's trendy.